Entities with substantial printing demands typically implement a high-speed production printer for volume printing (e.g., one hundred pages per minute or more). Production printers may include continuous-forms printers that print on a web of print media stored on a large roll. A production printer typically includes a localized print controller that controls the overall operation of the printing system, and a print engine that includes one or more printhead assemblies, where each assembly includes a printhead controller and a printhead (or array of printheads).
High-performance production printers represent a significant monetary investment. Thus, potential customers want to ensure that a printer will perform well on specific sets of documents prior to finalizing a purchase. Currently, print samples and test data are submitted by potential customers to various printer vendors to determine a printer that best fits the customer's needs. However, sending samples back and forth to printer vendors is impracticable and costly, in both time and resources.
Accordingly, a mechanism to efficiently recommend a high-speed production printer that meets a customer's performance and quality demands based on historical data obtained with similar jobs on actual printers is desired.